1. He is not. At first, it seems to you that it does not exist at all. And even everyone around confirms this. When I arrived in Israel 8 years ago and said that I was an architect and designer, I was prophesied only to wash the entrances and try to get another profession. I found a job on the third day of the search, that is, I was offered it. The rector of the Faculty of Architecture said that there was nothing for me to study here, and two days later he sent an offer to work in his office, which was impossible to refuse.

2. Everything is the same and white and beige. Then, after working in several offices, finding large websites and design magazines, I realized that after all, there is design in this country! Only it was very difficult to get rid of the feeling that you are constantly walking around the same apartment. White walls, beige tiles, white sofas and wardrobes and a large window in the living room, white children's rooms, no hallways...

3. And only then, after a long search, the whole gamut of tastes, colors and colors is revealed. In general, as in food, and in movies, and in history, Israelis are an explosive mixture of cultural layers, traditions and preferences. It is fashionable, of course, now to try to pack everything into a convenient “minimalism” with white walls, gray kitchen, floor and yellow accents (and a couple of years ago with a beige kitchen and coffee floor and turquoise accents), but sometimes it doesn’t work out, and here it starts The most interesting.

4. Practice. Everything must have a purpose, a meaning, and a solution. Whatever the style, you won't see layered wall decor, fancy furniture curves, or chandeliers. Everything must be practical. Sofa - do they sit on it? So let it be, first of all, soft and comfortable, well, if it’s beautiful, it’s generally great! And if it’s white, and drawings are easily washed off with felt-tip pens, tea, coffee, and dogs don’t gnaw, cats don’t tear their claws, it’s generally wonderful! Is it just a textured wall covering? Why do it? No, better shelves with different things. Yes, closed to keep dust out. Many attribute this to the fact that the very rhythm of life here in the east is such that you need to do everything and a little more, and manage to survive. Therefore, no one spends a lot of time on cleaning - it (time) simply does not exist. Therefore, all design decisions are very practical.

5. Climate. Israel is an oasis in the desert. But sometimes a hot wind with sand and dust comes up, the so-called khamsin, and all the beautiful accessories on open shelves are covered with a thick layer of the same dust from the Sahara. After this, you will not want any open shelves. And you don’t want poorly ventilated rooms (everywhere, even in small toilets, there is always a window), glossy surfaces (difficult to clean), dark walls (they will heat up in the sun) and other things. And be sure to need a big air conditioner in every room. In summer we cool the air, in winter we heat it. Everyone knows about batteries, but somehow I don’t want to install them for the sake of a couple of months of winter. And because of the heat and the amount of dust, there is a national love for tile floors, because it is so convenient to pour a bucket of water on the floor and collect all the dirt with water with a large mop down the drain in the corner or on the stairs. No parquet dreamed of such a thing.

6. Religion. Once in the house, you can immediately understand what kind of Israelis live here. The religious ones will have two sinks and two microwave ovens (kashrut requires cooking and eating meat and dairy dishes separately, in different dishes. I even somehow planned two whole kitchens side by side, fortunately, the area allowed). The Muslim house will have a beautiful black glossy kitchen for guests and its own, simple, in the back of the house for cooking. It is the same with the living room - the main one next to the kitchen for men, and next to the inner kitchen - the living room for women. I even like this idea, everyone has their own companies! Russians will definitely have something similar to the hallway, in Russian houses they don’t wear street shoes, as is customary among the Israelis. In simple secular apartments there will be a huge living room and small rooms where a bed, wardrobe and desk. All life takes place in the living room, the whole family communicates a lot, and does not scatter to their rooms.

7. In new apartments there is not a single parallel or perpendicular surface. All designers know this: when a wardrobe is planned up to the ceiling, its upper part will not be parallel to this very ceiling. Officially allowed deviation is 1.5 cm per meter of length. So, most likely, the wardrobe from the store will not even fit into the corner. For all these problems, there are a million tricks to hide them. But I still envy my colleagues in Europe who make drawings to the nearest millimeter!

8. Everything will be fine! « Ye besedr! This is such a local zen that applies to everything, including design. A kitchen made of the latest nanotechnological material will be installed by a soldier who has just been released from the army. You tell him, “oh, there will be such a detail of a shelf, built-in lighting, a thin profile” ... And he told you "ye besedr!", and swing the knife past. After that, you learn to coordinate all the subtle important things twenty times, check in production, and even sometimes hang / hold / stack on your own so that everything works out.

9. All around are designers. I'm not kidding, each of the workers is a designer at heart. Almost everyone encroaches on my design project during execution, from a drywaller who, look, decides that it would be great to make an arch here, and here a corner, to tilers who mix up the layout and say that it’s so on actually more beautiful. And, of course, if you don’t like this “design”, then blood resentment, revenge, screams and even tears right at the construction site. Anyone can offend an artist!

10. Perhaps, interior design in Israel does not really exist, in the generally accepted world concept. Here, customers do not have a desire to make “in the Empire style” or “like in a castle”, no one wants to show off to anyone. There may be motives, but each interior will be born anew, for a specific customer, adjusting to his requirements, tastes and opportunities. We are not interested in what is now fashionable at an exhibition in Milan or Moscow. Its climate, the very location of the country between the East and Europe gives answers to all questions. You can't understand it, you have to feel it. So interior design in Israel, it is first of all about freedom! Congratulations on the holiday of freedom and the exit from Egypt, dear Israelis! Happy interior design!

Photos from Alexandra's personal archive.

Furniture- one of the most necessary and useful creations of human hands, with its own history.
For example, did you know that the bar counter was invented in the Wild West and the first bar counters were made so that the bartender could hide from bullets. Steel sheets were sewn into them, which easily reflected bullets from pistols.

Here are some more interesting moments from the history of furniture.

1. In Egypt, during archaeological excavations, they found the oldest furniture in the world, for the manufacture of which wood, bone and stone were used. She was buried with her owner after his death. In those days, only pharaohs, priests and other ancient Egyptian nobility could afford furniture. Furniture from ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian burials was more like stones roughly processed for the needs of people. But the ancient Romans began to upholster chairs and benches with animal skins.

2. Only in the 5th century BC. Greece began to make wooden furniture. Up to this point, all the benches and beds were made of stone. Archaeologists have found luxurious furniture in the royal burials in Egypt - chic chests made of ebony, ivory, malachite and turquoise. Here, scientists, to their surprise, discovered stools, and its legs were carved in the form of animal hooves. The most interesting thing is that one of the stools was folding.
3. According to the information specified in the official certificate, the world-famous mafia Al Capone sold ordinary furniture.

4. In 1911, the inventor with an extraordinary approach, Thomas Edison, created furniture from concrete, assuring that this material is the cheapest. Luckily, his idea for concrete furniture didn't catch on.

5. The appearance of the progenitor of all upholstered furniture falls on the period of classicism. Soft chairs and sofas at that time stood in European castles.


6. Back in 1895, Linford Root tried to create the world's first inflatable furniture by inflating the hard and uncomfortable mattresses that were an integral part of the trains of that time with steam. After a short testing, the idea was abandoned, because. mattresses were inflated with hot steam and often burst, burning passengers ..

7. And the first folding sofa appeared in France in the 17th century. When the armrests recline, it becomes a bed with an adjustable tilt headboard.

8. The most valuable piece of furniture in 1990 was a chest of drawers made of ebony back in 1726. This item, which was decorated with wooden and bronze figures, was sold at auction for only 15 million 178 thousand dollars.

9. The bed has its own monument. It's located in Ohio, USA and is, you guessed it, right, a bed.

10. It’s hard to believe, but in Rus' they thought of such a simple invention as a bed only at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and earlier they slept on a stove, a wide bench or beds.

11. Finding gold in a chair, as in the movie "12 Chairs" was very easy at the beginning of the last century, it was one of the popular ways that people used in an attempt to save money.

12. The original Italian furniture in the BOULLE style is still made from tortoiseshell, but for thirty years it has been forbidden to kill turtles all over the world, and the raw materials were harvested back in the eighties of the last century. True, evil tongues say that some people buy shells from poachers ...

13. The whitest apartment, interior and furniture was in the apartment of John Lennon, who was an eccentric and loved all things white.

However, modern designers and architects also never cease to amaze us with interesting facts about furniture. For example, Dutch architects came up with a bed that, thanks to powerful magnets, can float in the air and withstand weight up to 900 kg. Such a levitating bed was invented by the architect Janjaapom Ruijssenar, without any ropes, she soars in the air, being in a strong magnetic field.

14. Mario Filippona, a Dutch designer, has developed a model of furniture that can charm like a woman. The fact is that its cabinets, sideboards and tables are sculptured, made in the form of a female body. His series of furniture is clearly erotic in nature, and many who are not indifferent hurried to diversify their interior with tables with female legs and cabinets with huge breasts.

The work of designers, especially those with famous name, connoisseurs are valued higher and more expensive than mass-produced furniture produced at the factory. Design works are distinguished by their "own style", thanks to which the designer's work is recognizable, even if he moves from one company to another. Sometimes the shapes, designs or color combinations in furniture amaze with their originality, sometimes they are remakes of famous products of past years or other designers in general, but made in a new way, in their own style.

For example, Eileen Gray, a recognized classic modern design, in 1922 presented to the public at the exhibition of French art in Amsterdam a two-color tea table. The model delighted the architects of the Dutch group de Stijl, which promoted new forms in modern architecture at the beginning of the century. The table was named DE STIJL, becoming a classic model constructivist furniture. Eileen then created a coffee table in the same style.

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Now reproduced tables are made of plastic. But, in addition to the exact reproduction of previous samples, modern designers also create their own models, echoing in style with models of past years. For example, the PANDORA sliding bar table resembles the coffee table from the previous photo and fits perfectly into modern interiors.

Italian designer Luciano Bertoncini is known not only in the field of furniture design: he developed models of motorcycles, founded his own studio working in the field of industrial design. Now he fruitfully cooperates with the Bellato company. The model of the table, invented by the craftsman, is an assembled even stack of five square table tops. But if you unfold them along an axis fixed in one of the corners, you get an unusual design of five planes installed at different levels. They can be rotated relative to each other, and appearance table will change. Models ROTOR and ALTERNATIVA - with retractable additional worktops - are the most functional and beautiful!

Designer Jane Warington collaborates with the Swiss company de Sede. She lives in Holland and teaches at the Academy of Visual Arts. Her models are distinguished by their original forms, such as, for example, the red armchair shown in the next photo.

But in addition to practical models, the company also has works created with humor. For example, a sofa in the shape of a boxing glove.

Or an armchair with the eloquent name SKELETON. Although the ease of use of these models is also guaranteed by a well-known furniture brand.

With no less humor, modern designers, such as Studio Job's Industry also creates marquetry furniture pasted over with images of skeletons :-). Imagining comfort, tranquility and peace, the imagination draws a rest in front of the fireplace, a warm blanket and fragrant tea, a grandmother with homemade cakes, an affectionate lazy cat and, of course, a rocking chair. Many artists, depicting a cozy comfortable room, used these images in their paintings. Over time, the rocking chair is not associated with a seat for grandmothers, and its appearance varies thanks to designers. How do you, for example, feel about such a rest - to sit on your knees to the skeleton, which will shake you a little? .

The Italian company Minotti, with which the architect and industrial designer of furniture and accessories Rodolfo Dardoni collaborates, produces truly upholstered furniture, without sharp corners. Inside models - metal carcass and foam polyurethane, and upholstery can be fabric, leather and fur. The tables in such sets are round, similar to tablets and also soft (either a table, or ottoman where you can sit)

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All items of the collection are quite low, their smooth lines and streamlined shapes captivate, make you relax. The well-known company Baker, founded in 1923 by Hollis Baker, also has its own corporate identity: it produces furniture that reproduces antique furniture designs. The idea for founding the company came to Baker during his travels in search of specimens for the furniture research museum's collection. It was her exhibits that served as the basis for the creation of furniture reproductions of past eras.

Lacca Povera furniture: the first examples of gluing pictures on furniture instead of painting are known from the end of the 16th century. Pictures, individual figures, plots, decor and ornamental elements were cut out of engravings. All this was glued, painted, something was drawn by hand and then varnished. Now it is called "decoupage", a word of French origin, but in the 17th-18th century furniture from Venice, Florence, Genoa, and other Italian cities was most famous. In the mass, such furniture was made from insufficient funds, when it was not possible to veneer with valuable species and even order from a professionally trained artist

Despite the fact that this furniture was considered cheap, time has taken its toll. Things from the 17th and 18th centuries sell well at auctions, but numerous subsequent repetitions of the 19th and 20th centuries clogged the market so much that it was necessary to promote the fashion for "provincial style", otherwise few people would buy furniture with inept painting and dubious overall composition.

And here is how modern examples of furniture decoupage look like:

A modern original collection of decoupage marquetry furniture was presented at Carpenters Workshop Gallery in London and owned studio job. All furniture items are made of Indian rosewood and are decorated with artistic images of animals, insects, birds, tools and various industrial objects. The bones and skeletons are made in light colors in the style of periodic graphics on a dark rosewood background. .

@milendia.

It is no secret that color has special properties to influence a person's perception of the surrounding reality. Some colors and shades soothe and pacify, while others, on the contrary, are able to induce action. Therefore, the influence of color in the interior should be taken into account when choosing a finish shade for different rooms in the house.

Influence of color in the interior:

1. Red.
2. White.
3. Green.
4. Blue.
5. Blue.
6. Brown.
7. Black.
8. Grey.
9. The choice of color in the interior.

Red

Red symbolizes blood, passion and energy. This color is categorically not suitable for the zone of sleep and rest, since it will not affect the human psyche excitingly. But for living rooms, it will be appropriate if the owner of the house is an active person with a slightly adventurous nature.

White

White color in the interior is often used to visually expand a small room. However, on its own White color is quite boring, it is not suitable for creative people looking for sources of inspiration around them.

Green

Green is associated with nature and the harmony inherent in it. Green has calming properties. In different shades green color will be appropriate in the decoration of bedrooms and kitchens. A dark green is perfect for the office. It will help you focus on completing tasks.

Blue

Blue is the color of energetic, freedom-loving people. This color has many symbolic meanings, so the ancient Egyptians painted in Blue colour the interior of the pyramids. Psychologists believe that the blue color is able to relieve fatigue, soothe. It is well suited for living rooms and recreation areas.

Blue

Blue - color clear sky, is associated with the freedom of flight, which is why it is the most suitable for people of a creative nature. You can paint both living rooms and work rooms in blue.

Brown

Brown is considered the color of calm and confidence, but it is rarely appropriate in the interiors of residential buildings. But the brown color in details, decor elements goes well with various shades, which makes it an almost universal color for furniture, various textile decorations and other things.

Black

Black is often associated with mourning and sadness. However, in fact, it can be a very noble color, emphasizing the status and taste of the owner of the home. The main rule for the use of black in the interior is moderation and a competent combination with other colors. As a rule, black looks great in duet with red and white.

Grey

Gray is the most boring of the colors that you can choose for the interior of your home. In fact, this is not a color, but its absence. A room designed in gray tones can be depressing. Therefore, it is better to refuse the choice of gray as the main color in interior design.

The choice of color in the interior

Today we will talk about the choice of color in the interior. After all, color is fundamental, which can both harm the design and make it original. The combination of colors in the interior is a simple science, but not only advanced designers need to be familiar with it, but also people who have started repairs.

The first rule of combining colors in the interior is based on simple mathematics. Either scientists or designers have proven that a person perceives colors best in this ratio: 60 percent is the dominant color, 30 percent is an auxiliary, and 10 percent is color accents. By the way, this rule also applies when choosing clothes, so we advise all fashionistas and fashionistas to remember it.

In order to decide which color is better to focus on, use the color fan. Its device consists of additional, primary and analog colors, which makes the choice of color in the interior not such a global task. It is analog colors that are most suitable for use in the interior, due to the fact that they are most combined with each other. Having chosen the main colors in the interior, you need to think about accents. Designers recommend not to ignore black, because it makes other colors more pure and saturated.

If, after looking at the color fan, it didn’t dawn on you in what colors to decorate the future interior, look around you. Natural colors are the most popular, try to work out the floor scheme - dark as earth, walls - trees (not necessarily all shades of green and yellow, it is important that the walls are lighter than the floor, but darker than the ceiling), ceiling - light shades. With this approach, the combination of colors in the interior will look the most advantageous.

When choosing a color in the interior, consider the association rule. Each color reminds us of something on a subconscious level, try to make the colors evoke positive emotions and not irritation. When choosing a color in the interior, it is important to follow the rule of color movement: here you need to play on halftones and repetitions.

Interested in various aspects of interior art, Design Museum readers rarely encounter historical facts relating to past centuries. That is why a few stories about such a prosaic thing as a chair can be very curious for them.

For example, a patent for a self-adjusting opera chair was obtained by Aaron Allen back in 1854. Even then, in Boston, such chairs appeared in public places that fell when used and rose with the person. They help to this day people in theaters and concert halls of the world to get comfortable in front of the stage.

The very first chairs were discovered by scientists during the studies of the civilization of Ancient Egypt. They were only part of the rites and were used by priests or pharaohs for a short time. They also became the progenitors of the thrones of the future kings of Europe.

Even wealthy people began to use this piece of furniture only later than the sixteenth century. Before that, benches and small benches were in use, as well as low tables.

The times described in the Bible did not know such furnishings as a chair at all. He is not mentioned in it even once, despite the fact that it was written precisely in the Middle Ages.

The famous Thomas Edison created three models of the electric chair not for torture, but for experiments with this new energy, which was still little studied at that time.

One of them was bought by Emperor Menelik II for use in Abyssinia. The incident ended with the fact that there was simply no source of electricity in the country.

Thus, the modern abundance of forms and styles of this wonderful interior detail is a legacy of relatively recent times, but our ancestors knew very little about it three hundred years ago.

If you want to fully understand the web design process, then you need to be able to look deeper than just the surface. Many people imagine only the appearance of the site, as well as some of the actions that take place on it. But after all, you need to link absolutely everything on the site together, make each button work, give it all a presentation, and also optimize it so that the site loads as quickly as possible and without errors. Moreover, it needs to be made multi-platform so that it opens in all browsers, and in recent years, mobile versions of sites have become especially important. As you can see, web design is a very complex concept, so you should take a look at some facts that you probably didn't know about.

Browsers

If you look at the site through one web browser, then you may see one picture, but when you load it from another browser, then there is a possibility that you will see a completely different page, on which the elements will be placed differently, perhaps not will fit on the screen, and so on. This is because each browser has its own page rendering engine. Therefore, an experienced web designer is distinguished by the fact that he always checks his site on several leading browsers at once and makes sure that each page opens exactly the same in all browsers. If you have been doing web design for a long time, then you most likely already know how to work around this problem, but at the very beginning you need to double-check each page in all browsers to avoid problems.

Focus

Many people think that they perceive all sites on the Internet in the same way, but they are wrong. They themselves unconsciously follow the path that designers dictate to them. After all correct location elements on the page is also a way to manage the client. You can create focus areas that will attract attention in the first place. This is done using fonts, colors, highlights, and so on. In any case, there are many ways to focus the visitor's attention on specific elements, thereby improving the conditions for both the service provider and site owner, and for visitors.

Two years is a lot

Considering how technology is developing in absolutely all areas, it is not surprising that a two-year-old site can be considered outdated. New products are constantly appearing in the field of design, web programming and so on. Therefore, you need to constantly update your site, bring it into line with modern norms and standards, add new features to it, and so on. Otherwise, in two years your site will be considered outdated and non-functional.

Templates

Many people decide to forego the services of professional web designers, as you can easily find free or very cheap ready-made templates on the Internet. You will only need to generate content - the site itself will be ready. However, in doing so, you need to understand that you are very much limiting the functionality of your site, its capabilities and prospects. The two-year rule applies here as well - you can only use your template for a limited amount of time before it becomes obsolete. And during this time, you will not be able to use all the opportunities that a manually made site can offer you.

search engines

Your website may look perfect and be a piece of design art, but it won't matter if no one can spot it among the millions of other pages on the web. Here, how your page code is composed plays a huge role, because it determines how search engines will perceive your page. It is in the code that the keywords and tags that are searched are hidden. Therefore, it is very important that your site not only looks beautiful and functions correctly, but also that it is optimized for search engines, that is, when searching for certain words and combinations, people receive a link to your site among the results.

Multimedia

It's no secret that multimedia on a website can attract a lot of visitors, make the page more attractive and interesting. However, here you again need to return to the word that will constantly haunt you if you are dealing with web design - optimization. If your video loads in parallel with all the data on the page, then the site itself will take a very long time to load. You need to optimize media - let users choose whether they want to include video and audio or not, compress the size of images without losing quality, and so on.

Price

The cost of a website is between $500 and $5,000. If you are surprised by this, then try to imagine how much work a web designer has to do.

Mobile and responsive design

People often confuse mobile and responsive designs. Mobile design minimizes and limits everything so that the page loads faster on phones and does not require a lot of traffic. Responsive design is flexible and allows you to load the site in absolutely all browsers and on all platforms.